The Rocca Roveresca in Mondavio, the intact walls of Corinaldo, the Piaggia, the Pozzo della Polenta and the house of Saint Maria Goretti.
Two villages among the Most Beautiful Villages in Italy on the hills between Fano and Senigallia, half an hour from the sea. Mondavio has a perfect Renaissance fortress, as if it came straight out of a book; Corinaldo is enclosed by almost a kilometre of 15th-century walls, with a famous stairway and a legend that will make you smile.
Times are a guide: driving times are worked out without traffic, then come the visits and ten minutes at every stop to park. In summer towards the coast and at rush hour allow extra time.
Designed by Francesco di Giorgio Martini for Giovanni Della Rovere at the end of the 15th century, this is one of the masterpieces of Renaissance military architecture: the polygonal tower looks like a sculpture. Inside you'll find the historical re-enactment museum, with scenes of court life reconstructed with life-size figures, the armoury and the prisons.
Reduced opening hours in winter: check before you go.
The 15th-century walls, almost a kilometre long, are among the best preserved in the Marche, with towers, gates and the walkway. The village climbs up along the Piaggia, the stairway of over a hundred steps that cuts the town in two, with brick houses on either side.
Lots of steps: if you don't walk much, you can follow the walls on the flat, from below.
Halfway up the Piaggia there's the well of legend: a farmer, carrying a sack of flour, fell into it with his sack and the well turned into a pot of polenta. In July the town holds the Contesa del Pozzo della Polenta, a medieval festival with costumes and polenta for everyone.
Maria Goretti was born in Corinaldo in 1890; she died at eleven and was proclaimed a saint in 1950. You can visit her birthplace and the sanctuary dedicated to her, a destination for pilgrimages.
Free admission.
How long it takes from each town, the drive back included. Tap a town to see the plan from there.
Almost every old town has a limited traffic zone (ZTL) with cameras: park outside and walk in. The fine reaches your home, abroad too. ZTL and car parks town by town
Romagna Transfer picks you up at your hotel, drops you in front of every stop and brings you back: no parking, no ZTL, and the wine is yours to enjoy.
Rossini's birthplace, Piazza del Popolo and Palazzo Ducale, Giovanni Bellini's altarpiece, the Cathedral mosaics and Pomodoro's Sphere by the sea.
3 h 55 from Rimini Half day
The plan
The Arch of Augustus on the Via Flaminia, the Fountain of Fortune, the Malatesta Court and the two Perugino paintings in Santa Maria Nuova
4 h 05 from Rimini Half day
The plan
The panoramic road along the cliff, Villa Imperiale (in summer), the villages of Fiorenzuola di Focara and Casteldimezzo, the view from Gabicce Monte.
4 h 40 from Rimini Half day
The planVespasian's Roman tunnel through the gorge, the Della Rovere Ducal Palace, the Church of the Dead with its mummies and the home of the Befana.
5 h 50 from Rimini Half day
The planItaly's most famous caves, the Ancona Abyss, the neoclassical temple inside the rock and the Romanesque abbey of San Vittore.
6 h 20 from Rimini Long half day
The planThe sanctuary of the Holy House of Loreto, Palazzo Leopardi with the poet's library and the Hill of the Infinite.
6 h 15 from Rimini Long half day
The planTrips written by our editors from the facts of our monument pages and the official sites. Opening days and hours change: the note under every place tells you what to check before you leave. No prices: you find them on the museums' sites.
